William Orbit Defends That Leaked Clip of Britney Spears Without Auto-Tune

If you go anywhere on the internet, you must have heard that video of Britney Spears singing without auto-tune. In case you haven’t, here it is. It’s an unedited vocal version of “Alien,” a single off her latest album. It sounds like a person singing karaoke while scalding hot water was being thrown at them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A_T9dP22-M

William Orbit, the song’s producer, posted a statement on Facebook explaining why Britney sounds like a 1,000 dying cats.

Dearest Music Lovers,

I have heard that Britney vocal link that everybody’s been discussing. It has been impossible not to as there have been many comments directing my attention to it. [I won’t re-posting it here]. I’d like to affirm that ANY singer when first at the mic at the start of a long session can make a multitude of vocalisations in order to get warmed up.

Warming up is essential if you’re a pro, as it is with a runner doing stretches, and it takes a while to do properly. I’ve heard all manner of sounds emitted during warmups. The point is that it is not supposed to be shared with millions of listeners.

A generous singer will put something down the mic to help the engineer get their systems warmed up and at the right level, maybe whilst having a cup of herb tea and checking through lyrics before the session really kicks off. It’s not expected to be a ‘take’.

I think that 99% of you reading this will totally understand.

Whomever put this on the internet must have done so in a spirit of unkindness, but it can in no way detract from the fact that Britney is and always will be beyond Stellar! She is magnificent! And that’s that.

Sincerely, William

Except, no one buys this. Even if this was a vocal warm-up, she’d at least be on key for most of it. It’s not like she’s magically going to nail it after a few dry runs. She might as well just sing in bloops and bleeps because 90% of the track is just a computer anyway.